Rolling shutter.



JAMES G. WILSON, OF LARCHMONT, NEW YORK.

ROLLING SHUTTER.

Specificationof Letters Patent.

Patented April 20, 1909.

Application filed February 7, 1908. Serial No. 414,776.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMns G. WILsON, a subject of the King of Great Britain, and. a resident of Larchmont, Westchester county, State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Rolling Shutters, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a fire resisting shuttercomprising a plurality. of curtains of fire resisting material which will contain between them a body or wall of air.

A furtherobject of myinvention is to provide means for holding a-body of liquid or solid matter which, when acted upon by eX+ treme heat, will develo a' vapor which is unfavorable to combustlon.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a broken away front view of my improved curtain partially rolled upon its roller; Fig. 2 is a section on the line 22 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 .isa section on the line 33 of Fig. 1.

In the drawings, A is a curtain, roller upon which are mounted two curtains of corrugated iron, or of slats made of iron or of other fire resisting material, the front curtain being designated as B, and the rear curtain as C. The lower ends of the curtains are attached to a bottom bar D preferably of iron or other heavy fire resisting material, in such a manner that such ends are separated by an appreciable distance. The two curtains form a shutter which, when unrolled, contains a body or wall of air. a As air is a nonronductor of heat, the fire resisting capacity of the shutter is greater than that of the two curtains acting alone. erably made U-shaped in cross section to permit a liquid or solid substance to be placed therein, which substance will, under the in, fiuence of extreme heat evolve a gas or vapor unfavorable to combustion. Perforations X X may be provided in one or both of the curtains to permit such gas or vapor to escape and resist in retarding the flames. Such per forations should be of sufficient size to enable such gas readily to escape without being large enoughto permit the flames to enter the space between the curtains.

To widen the space between the curta1ns,;

and to make the position of the curtains horizontal when the shutter is "open, and in order to prevent a flapping of the curtains, such curtains are guided at their sides by the grooves E E provided in the door posts. A spreader bar F is provided above the topsof The bottom bar is pref the groovesto insure the free running of the curtains within the grooves.

In order to make allowance for the necessary inequality between the rate of winding of the two curtains when rolled onto one roller, the front curtain B may be attached to a. separate bar G, extending the lengthof the bar D, and united to said bar by springs H and by pins I running'in slots K on said bar. If the springs H are properly adjusted in tension the front and rear ortions of the bar D will remain substantially at an equal elevation during the raising and lowering of the shutter.

The roller may be protected by a casing L.

In carrying out my invention it is not necessary to roll each curtain upon the same roller, but each curtain may be mounted upon a separate roller. In such case the bar G, pins I, slots K and springs H may be dispensed-with andthe lower edge of the front curtain B may be attached directly to the bar D- r I donot claim broadly a shutter composed of two curtains inclosing a wall of air; this construction, broadly speaking, being old as shown for instance in patent to Kinnear, No. 621,421 March 21, 1899; but

I dol'claim 1. A rolling shutter comprising a roller, a

pair of curtains of fire resisting material mounted thereon and a bar attached to the free end of each curtain so as to separate them thereby including a substantial air space, said bar being adapted to closely fit the shutter frame and the attachment between one of said curtains and the bar being elastic.

2. A rolling shutter comprising a roller, a pair of curtains of fire resisting material mounted thereon, a bar to one side of which the lower end of one of the curtains is attached, a bar to which the lower end of the other curtain is attached, means for attaching the last bar to the other side of the first mentioned bar, and springs connecting said bars substantially as and for the purpose described.-'

3. 1 A rolling shutter comprising a roller, a pair of: curtains of fire resisting material I mounted thereon, a trough-shaped bar to one other side of the trough-shaped bar, and

springs connecting said bars substantially as and for the purpose described.

4. A rolling shutter comprising two curtains of fireproof material and a bar to which the lower ends of the curtains are attached in such a manner as to inclose a wall of air between the curtains, in combination with door posts at either side of the shutter, each door post being rovided with two grooves, each curtain bemg arranged to run in a groove in each door post, and means for simultaneously raising or lowering said curtains substantially as and for the purpose described.

5. A rolling shutter comprising two curtains of fire proof material and a bar to which the lower ends of the curtains are attached in such a manner as to inclose a wall of air between the curtains in combination with door posts at either side of the shutter, each door post being provided with two grooves, each curtain being arranged to run in a groove in each door post, and means for simultaneously raising or lowering said curtains and a spreader bar arranged to separate the curtains as they enter the grooves, substantially as and for the purpose described.

6 In combination with a roller two curtains of fireproof material, a trough-shaped bar to one side of which the lower end of one of the curtains is attached, the other side be- 7 ing rovided with yielding means for holding the ower end of the front curtain, door posts at either side of the shutter, each door post being provided with two grooves, each curtain being arranged to run in a groove in each door post, and a spreader bar arranged to separate the curtains as they enter the purpose and one or both of said curtains being proi vided with vents, substances within said air space, moving with and supported by said shutter, said substances being adapted to give off, when heated, gases not supporting combustion.

8. A rolling shutter comprising a pair of curtains of fire resisting material separated by an air space, one or both curtains being provided with vents, means for retaining substances within said air space, said substances being adapted to give off, when heated, gases not supporting eomlmstion; and means for simultaneously raising or lowering said curtains.

9. A rolling shutter comprising a pair of curtains of fire resisting material, a bar to which the lower ends of the curtains are attached in such a manner as to inclose a wall of air betweenthe curtains, means for simultaneously raising or lowering such curtains, the bar being provided with means [or holding substances, substantially as and for the purpose described.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses this 3rd day of February, 1908-. JAMES G. IYILSON.

it" itnesses IV. E. DUNCANSON, A. H. Donen. 

